The Anime That Was Too Disturbing For The Internet

The Flowers of Evil: An Unsettling Anime

The video revisits The Flowers of Evil, a notorious 2013 anime that the narrator says has largely faded from memory. Its unsettling style, however, is exactly what makes it memorable.

Story and Characters

The story centers on Kasuga, a lonely middle-schooler who idolizes his crush, Saeki. After finding her gym clothes, he makes the disastrous choice to steal them, partly encouraged by an old book. Nakamura catches him and blackmails him, turning his secret into the beginning of a tense and deeply uncomfortable relationship.

The narrator mocks Kasuga’s pathetic attempts to manage the situation while emphasizing how the characters’ shame, fixation, and cruelty make the show hard to watch.

Style and Pacing

The anime’s eerie music, drab setting, and long, quiet scenes intensify its discomfort. The narrator initially mistakes an extended sequence of characters walking for padding, but comes to appreciate how the slow pacing forces viewers to sit with the consequences of what has happened.

A major point of controversy was the show’s rotoscoping, in which animators traced live-action footage. This gives the characters unusually realistic movements and faces that the narrator describes as uncanny and ugly. Though manga fans criticized the departure from the original art style, the video argues that the animation’s awkward realism strengthens the story’s alienation and unease.

Jokes—from the narrator’s sarcastic anime-year roundup to comparisons with One Piece pacing and a fake claim about getting into college through plagiarism—provide brief relief from the grim subject matter.

Verdict

The narrator ultimately praises the anime’s direction but doesn’t recommend watching it unless viewers are prepared for an intensely uncomfortable experience. The anime doesn’t finish the story, so the manga is needed for the ending—and, according to the narrator, things get much worse.

Personalities Featured

• The narrator: The video’s commentator.
• Kasuga: The insecure protagonist.
• Nakamura: The blackmailer who torments Kasuga.
• Saeki: Kasuga’s crush.